Residential Tenancies Act

In Alberta, a provincial law called the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) applies to most agreements to rent residential property. Some types of agreements are excluded (see below). There is also a Voluntary Code of Practice published by the Alberta government, which is an aid to interpreting the Act.

Your options regarding terms to include in a contract or lease agreement can be limited by the Residential Tenancies Act. The RTA refers to rental agreements covered by the Act as “residential tenancy agreements”.

The Residential Tenancies Act sets out rules that apply — whether or not you include them in your residential tenancy agreement.

The Residential Tenancies Act does not cover everything that people might want to include in a lease agreement. You and your tenant can add other conditions to the agreement that are not covered by the Act.

The majority of tenancy agreements in Alberta are covered by the Act, but it is important to note that the Act specifically does not cover the following types of living arrangements:

• a mobile home site;
• premises that are rented by a single agreement and are occupied for business purposes with living accommodation attached, for example, a gas station with living quarters;
• premises where you actually live there too;
• any of the following where someone lives for less than six consecutive months—hotels, motels, motor hotels, resorts, lodges, tourist camps, cottage or cabin in a camp ground or trailer park, tourist home, bed and breakfast establishment, farm, or vacation home;
• student dorms;
• certain nursing homes, senior citizens lodges, and social care facilities that are included in other legislation;
• prisons;
• residential premises on First Nations reserves on federal lands.

February 2006